Restoration Opportunity

[454697819]

Ever since I can remember my dad has had in his sheds and garages an old BSA 650, which is in a million pieces, he remembers swapping a working Honda 250 for it, with the plan of building it "one day". We dont even know what BSA 650 it is :-)

Well we have moved it from house to house several times and it has been in bits for nearly 30 years, its now at his current house taking up space in one of the out buildings.

I asked him last week when was he ever going to build it, and his response was that he wasn't interested and hadn't been for many years, he only held onto it because he thought us boys might be interested, and basically i can take it off his hands if I want. :eek:

Now from what he says all the bits are there excluding some nuts and bolts and the carbs, it is however in need of every bit of chrome re chroming and every bit of paint re painting, the engine is in bits and needs the cylinders honing and + oversize pistons need fitting along with the crankcase bearing mod.

I'm quite excited by the opportunity but I don't want to do the same as him, sit it in sheds for 30 years and ignore it.

To be truthful, I am selling the ducati in month or so as I have only done 600 miles in 9 months and thats pretty rubbish, and I just haven't gelled with it at all and the plan was to take some time away from biking as its lost its thrill for me but this may be a way of re igniting the buzz.


My first plan was to dry build it to find what was missing then see what actually needs doing to make it work, from there on I could cost the refurb and decide if I could ever do it?

So tell me... Should I give it a stab?

Does anyone have any experience of restoring bikes?

Over to ya'll

[BigBaddad]

Doing a dry build is always a good idea with a basket case, see what the finished value would be and home much it'll cost to achieve. Do you have the time to do it, and understanding missus, somewhere to leave it for the years it'll take you and the available funds.

Or you could just pop it in my garage.

[mister c]

I agree with Baddad. Whatever you think it may cost, add quite a lot more on because there will be something that you think "mmmm I'll just change that because it isn't quite right".
I budgetted around £700 to do the SV using nothing but 2nd hand parts off Ebay. The bill ended up at just over £1000 & that was getting a friend to respray it for me for just the cost of the paint (£70) instead of the £400 I'd been quoted & I'm still finding little things that I dont really like about it, which will be changed over the winter (so more money).
One thing I would say is look at it as a viable proporsition, not with rose tinted shades, or you may find yourself throwing buckets of cash at it for not much at the end of the day.

[BBadger]

As everyone else has said it will always cost more than you think as somthing will come up or need changing, youll see somthing shiny and buy it for the bike.

But all in all if you want to do it, just do, its been sitting for 30 years what are a few more in reality and you could get a gem of a classic bike out of it with all the effort and enjoyment youve put in over how ever long it takes.

[454697819]

As everyone else has said it will always cost more than you think as somthing will come up or need changing, youll see somthing shiny and buy it for the bike.

But all in all if you want to do it, just do, its been sitting for 30 years what are a few more in reality and you could get a gem of a classic bike out of it with all the effort and enjoyment youve put in over how ever long it takes.

thats what I am thinking,

It will take time, thats for sure, and money but again its something Id be happy to do over a few years,

I estimate it to cost between 2 & 3k Dependant on what needs replacing and what can be refinished and how much bling, and the are advertised for between 3 & 6k

the last thing I want to see is it rot beyond repair or disappear to someone else one day.

[Specialone]

IMO, if it's s bike with some family history as this one, a restoration job is for it's personal value not how much it'll be worth at the end, you will spend a fair bit I'm sure but it will be an achievement you'll be proud of and one you won't wanna sell anyway.

[454697819]

IMO, if it's s bike with some family history as this one, a restoration job is for it's personal value not how much it'll be worth at the end, you will spend a fair bit I'm sure but it will be an achievement you'll be proud of and one you won't wanna sell anyway.

agree completely the final value is in many respects irrelevant, albeit I don't have the mind set to poor money into something that wouldn't be worth anything one day..

that being said Im on my second ducati..!?

[Bibio]

why do these things always come up so far away... i would love to restore it. i fell in love with a BSA 650 when i was a kid and have always wanted to get one.

[embee]

How much it would be worth depends very much on what exactly it is. If it's a boggo A10 then it'll never be worth a lot, a Rocket Gold Star would.

I suggest find out exactly what it is first and take it from there.

Like the others say, resurrecting a basket case is an awful lot of work/time, and even just to get something roadworthy and presentable can end up pretty costly. I bet there are as many like that "awaiting restoration" as there are actually on the road (I've got a couple...#-o )

Depends why you want to do it too. If you really fancy taking the task on, then go for it. If you're half hearted, it'll never get done. Make sure the spectacles aren't too rose tinted, old Brit bikes were never very nice in reality, and some of them downright nasty. I had an A7, pretty gutless, hopeless suspension, non-existent brakes, temperamental magneto etc etc.

[scooby]

I have my Dads 1957 BSA A7 500 I would'nt call it gutless just dated .This also needs renovating after being left for a number of years .It has a plunger frame so does'nt handle well solo. but as a family outfit ( fitted with a large sidecar for mom sis n me) it was our only transport for many years took dad to work almost every day untill he retired... so extreemly relyable and mostly roadside repareable when i did breakdown.the back seat of the sidecar also being a tool box being soooo handy..:).
Take your time over the restoration there are companies who wil rebuild your engine to a more efficient lump should you choose ... opening out some of the oil galleries, roller bearings instead of bronze ect .. Mags can be reound and re energised most things are possible given knollege money and time.
Most of all have fun renovating a peice of family history half the fun is finding the parts

[454697819]

I think thats the point.. I really just want to do it.. Im not bothered if it takes 5 or 10 years or I never really ride it,

Talked it over with the wife last night, she is happy for me to have it if my dads cool with it all, once the ducati is gone.

After a bit of research I beleieve its an A65

taken from wiki

A65L Lightning / Rocket 650cc 1964 1972 Twin carburettors. From 1971 had oil-bearing frame

as I know its got twin carbs and I know its a 650 twin and I know it an oil bearing frame, I recall the last tax disk being circa 1972 but he is over for dinner on sunday so I will speak to him more about it then..

Happy days

[Lozzo]

Calculating restoration costs is easy. You add up the sum of everything you need to buy and what work needs to be done by others, then treble it. That brings you to a figure that's about what it actually costs.

Calculating the time it will take to restore is roughly the same. Work it out properly, and again you treble it to bring you to a date you will be finishing the last fiddly bits.

[DJFridge]

Depressingly expensive sounding isn't it - Lozzo probably isn't far off.

One of our directors at work has restored a Triumph 3TA, a couple of old Velocettes and restored/retro'd a recentish Royal Enfield. My only suggestion would be this:

Ignore what it is worth now and may be worth in some mythical future. If you just add cost price + new parts + labour cost you WILL lose money. See it as a fun way to spend your weekends and only buy new bits when you've got a bit of spare cash and you will have a fairly inexpensive hobby. And at the end of it, you should have a bike to be proud of.